Pauline Tarnowsky's Les Femmes Homicides, Part I

Translated by Kayla Toohy and Boniface Noyongoyo.

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Tarnowsky’s progression from the original endeavor of identifying born criminals based on physical characteristics to the assertions she makes on the influences of biological and social factors are progressive for her time and an important contribution to the development of the discipline. Her meticulous methodological and extensive theoretical considerations regarding the intersections of her criminal population (e.g., race, environment, time, place, unity, and other social conditions) make this one of the first comprehensive studies on female offenders to use a control group to make comparisons among consistently homogenous criminal and non-criminal populations. She calls upon what we now know as the social sciences to study and explain homicides committed by women, eventually denouncing the importance of Lombroso’s theory of “born criminals.” Some images of the women of Les Femmes Homicides as well as a Bibliography can be accessed by instructors under the Instructor & Student Resources tab.